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Food for Thought: Making Time for Quiet Time (Prayer)

From the "Acts 16:5 " series...

Dr. Mark Ruppert

Mark 1:16-35

“If it was good enough for my kids it ought to be good enough for theirs.” How many of you have heard that line before? I sure have. But let me ask you this, have you ever heard anyone say, “if it was good enough for Jesus it should be good enough for me?” Anyone ever heard this statement before? Anyone? I sure haven’t, too bad. Too bad we don’t hear a statement like this or something close to it. Maybe it is because we think it’s too demanding. Maybe we think there is no way I can be like Jesus. Maybe it’s because we aren’t willing to try and step out in faith.

I want to begin today by making this statement: If prayer was good enough for Jesus and He was the Son of God, it should be good enough for me, and good enough for you. There, I said it.

PRAYER is the second Defining Practice of Ministry that I want us to focus on today.
Last week we discussed the first Defining Practice of Ministry and that is WITNESS and today we focus on PRAYER. You know, there are a great many biblical practices of transformational ministry and prayer is just one of them.

I’ve always appreciated the Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard’s thoughts about prayer when he said, “… prayer does not change God, but changes him who prays.”
I’m sure some of us wish we were businessman Eduardo Perez from Spain. In 1996 he was visiting Stockholm on business, and ,according to a German newspaper account, he was set to inherit 1 million dollars. It seems Perez had stopped off to pray at a Roman Catholic Church and signed the guest book of a man whose body lay there in a coffin. Perez was later notified that the deceased, real-estate developer Jens Svenson, had died without heirs and had specified that, “whoever prays for my soul gets all my belongings.” Talk about a prayer with unbelievable results, huh?

Let me share with you 3 points as you look at your own personal prayer life. First, the WHO and the WHAT- or selection. One way to approach your prayer time is to determine who and what you are going to be praying for. One way would be to keep a prayer journal where you list those people or issues you are praying for on that particular day. And each day you can add to or subtract from your list but you have it in front of you so that you can be intentional.

Look with me at our passage from Mark 1 and let’s see what has been going on in the life of Jesus. Here we find that Jesus, in verses 16-20 begins to select His disciples, a pretty important task, wouldn’t you agree? Then in verses 21-28 we read where He goes to Capernaum and He begins to teach in the synagogue and while He was there a man with an unclean spirit confronts Jesus and Jesus exercised the unclean spirit. And in verses 29-31 Jesus goes into the house of Simon and Andrew and He finds Simon’s mother-in-law has a fever and He heals her. And then in verses 32-34 as evening is fast coming they bring sick people to Him and verse 33 says the whole city gathered around the door. And verse 34 tells us He cured many who where sick and cast out demons. This was all in a day’s work. WOW. Which brings us to verse 35 where we read, “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” What in heavens name do you think He prayed about? Was it for all the people and issues He dealt with the day before? Or maybe it was for all that was in store for Him during that particular day? Or maybe both. If you continue to read verses 36-45 you find out what was in store for Jesus after He had time for morning prayer and it was as busy as the day before for He taught in the synagogues and cast out demons and healed a man with leprosy.

Just like anyone who is involved in the everyday aspects of life and living, Jesus runs the risk of exhausting His energies and losing His perspective. That is why He needed to withdraw and go find solitude. His day at Capernaum finds Him with no time alone. The point that we need to take from Jesus is that He knew He could not live without God. How about us? Have we come to that realization in our lives? Jesus knew that if He was going to be giving and giving to others He needed to also receive and take in. He needed spiritual energy for the work at hand. The bottom line is this- Jesus knew He could not live without prayer. Period. And if Jesus knew this and if it was good enough for Jesus and He was the Son of God, the same is true for us. Right?

Dr. A. D. Belden in his book, The Practice of Prayer has some important definitions regarding prayer. He says, “Prayer may be defined as the appeal of the soul to God.”

And if we do not pray we are guilty of ignoring “the possibility of adding God to our resources.” “In prayer we give the perfect mind of God an opportunity to feed our mental powers.” And don’t you think that Jesus knew this? Jesus knew that if He was going to minister to people He must first meet God. And so if prayer was necessary for Jesus how much more must it be necessary for you and me? As believers we have to be convinced and committed to prayer. Convinced that it is important to our walk with Christ and Committed to doing it. It is a great goal to be committed to praying daily but if you miss, that is OK, don’t beat yourself up. Make every effort to get back on track tomorrow. Pray to the Lord and ask Him who and what He wants you to focus on.

The second point in the Defining Practice of Prayer is Intercession, in other words praying on behalf of the other person, persons or issue.

In Colossians 4:12 the Apostle Paul writes these words to the church in Colossae, “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you. He is always wrestling in his prayers on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in everything that God wills.” Paul says that Epaphras is wrestling in his prayers on your behalf. This is what Intercessory Prayer is all about, wrestling, praying on behalf of someone else. When decide the WHO and WHAT you are going to be praying for, pray for the other person’s issue or problem and don’t forget to pray for their acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior if they haven’t already done so. For those who know Christ pray that they are growing in Christ. And as a part of praying for everyone on your list pray for their well being. And if your list contains WHATS present them to the Lord as well.

Here is another way you could be involved in Intercessory Prayer. A friend of mine who likes acrostics has suggested using the first letter of each weekday to remind him who and what to pray about. Let me share with you how he maps it out. Sunday: S- pray for your family Schedule, the church Staff, Session, and Selected leaders, including Deacons.

Monday: M- pray for Missionaries.
Tuesday: T- pray for Troubled people and situations.
Wednesday: W – pray for World leaders.
Thursday: T- a time for Thanksgiving. Give God thanks for His grace, love and mercy.
Friday: F- pray for your family and personal friends.
Saturday: S- pray for the Sunday School teachers and the Sunday Service.

However you decided to engage in praying for others, the important thing is to get started and try different methods, whether it is using a prayer journal or the first letter of the days of the week or the acrostics PRAY- Praise, Repent, Ask and Yield or ACT- Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving. As I said last week about witnessing and using the old Nike commercial, Just Do It.

And the third point regarding the Defining Practice of Prayer is the Prayer Covenant. Back on Sunday, January 22, if you were in the service, during the sermon on Prayer, I invited you to establish a 30-day prayer covenant with at least one other person in this church, if you were not already involved. A number of people have already been involved in a 30 day prayer covenant prior to my suggesting it that day and I was pleased to hear that people sought out someone else and there were a few cards where I linked you up with someone else. Well, 30 days have passed and I’d like to call upon two people who, on January 22 made a 30 day prayer covenant and let them tell you what it has meant to them. Ruth Bartilson and Jessica Sowell, please come forward and share.

If you are not already in a 30-day prayer covenant with someone else I want to ask you to consider it today. Look for someone after the service: maybe they are seated next to you or in your section; maybe they are involved on a committee with you or you have worked with them on a project. Maybe they were or are in a class with you. And if you are really brave, if you do not have a person you are praying for, on the your yellow card put under the Comments section that you would like someone to enter a 30 day prayer covenant with someone else and we will get you paired up with another person: male with male and female with female and we’ll get you started praying the short prayer that is in the bulletin that reads:

“Lord, grant _______ and me the grace today to commit our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ without reservation, and grant _______ and me further the grace to know your strength and your guidance this day. Amen.” There are also blue Partnership Prayer Cards in the pew pockets for you to use.
Friends, make prayer a part of your daily life and see what God can do through prayer. Will you give it a 30-day try? Amen.

Key Points

Introduction: “if it was good enough for my kids it ought to be good enough for theirs.” If prayer was good enough for Jesus and He was the Son of God, it should be good enough for me, and you.

Prayer- the second Defining Practice of Ministry

Soren Kierkegaard once said, “…prayer does not change God, but changes him who prays.”

Three points as you look to your own personal prayer life

First, the _____ and the ______- or Selection

A look at Mark 1:16-35, 36-45

Jesus knew He could not live without God

Jesus knew He could not live without prayer

As believers we have to be __________ and _________
to prayer

The second point in the Defining Practice of Prayer is ________,
in other words praying on behalf of the other person,
persons, or issue Col. 4:12

Using the first letter of each weekday to remind you who and
what to pray about: Sunday- Schedule, Staff, Session, Selected
leaders, including Deacons; Monday- Missionaries; Tuesday-
Troubled people and situations; Wednesday- World leaders;
Thursday- Thanksgiving; Friday- Family and personal Friends;
Saturday- Sunday School teachers and the Sunday Service

And third, the Prayer __________

Conclusion: Make prayer a part of your daily life and see what God can do through prayer. Will you give it a 30-day try?

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)